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Hello there! I'm trying to figure out if I have any amount of negotiation power given scholarship offers to schools in different tiers.

I haven't fully decided, but I'm really looking to go to University of Virginia. They're offering me $18k/year (assuming this is per year, in SIS it says $9k for fall and spring and I would assume that renews each year; PLEASE let me know if that's a bad assumption). UVA is very expensive so I'm hoping to get more scholarship money if possible.

I've been offered $35k/year from Vanderbilt, $50k/year from George Washington University, and a full ride to Wake Forest (though I doubt that has any pull).


Do I have any negotiation power here? What should my path forward be on this?

Thanks!

this was a few years ago, but i found that competing offers within the T14 had a decent amount of sway. as soon as the offers came outside of the T14, their value drop down to almost nothing.

For example - I had 40k/year from UCLA, with offers from the T14 ranging from 20k/year to 0. None of them were willing to negotiate against the UCLA COA.

dabigchina wrote:this was a few years ago, but i found that competing offers within the T14 had a decent amount of sway. as soon as the offers came outside of the T14, their value drop down to almost nothing

I agree with this.

If you have a Cornell or Georgetown offer, you might be able to use Vanderbilt to move the needle with one of them, which could then help with UVA negotiations. But I don't think UVA will budge based solely on your current offers.

cavalier1138 wrote:

dabigchina wrote:this was a few years ago, but i found that competing offers within the T14 had a decent amount of sway. as soon as the offers came outside of the T14, their value drop down to almost nothing

I agree with this.

If you have a Cornell or Georgetown offer, you might be able to use Vanderbilt to move the needle with one of them, which could then help with UVA negotiations. But I don't think UVA will budge based solely on your current offers.

That's what I was afraid of. Should I still make an attempt or no?

bciara96 wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:

dabigchina wrote:this was a few years ago, but i found that competing offers within the T14 had a decent amount of sway. as soon as the offers came outside of the T14, their value drop down to almost nothing

I agree with this.

If you have a Cornell or Georgetown offer, you might be able to use Vanderbilt to move the needle with one of them, which could then help with UVA negotiations. But I don't think UVA will budge based solely on your current offers.

That's what I was afraid of. Should I still make an attempt or no?

It's always worth trying, but have realistic expectations about what you will get.

dabigchina wrote:It's always worth trying, but have realistic expectations about what you will get.

How should I go about approaching admissions/financial aid?

bciara96 wrote:

dabigchina wrote:It's always worth trying, but have realistic expectations about what you will get.

How should I go about approaching admissions/financial aid?

Hi UVA,

While I am excited about starting at UVA, the COA concerns me. I have [offers 1, 2 and 3] from [schools 1, 2, and 3. Given the difference in cost, would it be possible to reconsider my financial aid offer?

something along those lines.

dabigchina wrote:Hi UVA,

While I am excited about starting at UVA, the COA concerns me. I have [offers 1, 2 and 3] from [schools 1, 2, and 3. Given the difference in cost, would it be possible to reconsider my financial aid offer?

something along those lines.

Okay awesome! Nice and simple. Do you think it hurts me to include any of the three I mentioned? (Like should I not mention Wake Forest or something like that?)

They're likely to disregard the Wake offer, but you may as well include it. I don't know that it would hurt your chances to do so.

bciara96 wrote:

dabigchina wrote:Hi UVA,

While I am excited about starting at UVA, the COA concerns me. I have [offers 1, 2 and 3] from [schools 1, 2, and 3. Given the difference in cost, would it be possible to reconsider my financial aid offer?

something along those lines.

Okay awesome! Nice and simple. Do you think it hurts me to include any of the three I mentioned? (Like should I not mention Wake Forest or something like that?)

I don't think it will move the needle substantially either way, but I'd exclude. It's not relevant and you want to keep it short and sweet. They're probably fielding hundreds random emails a week.

dabigchina wrote:

bciara96 wrote: Okay awesome! Nice and simple. Do you think it hurts me to include any of the three I mentioned? (Like should I not mention Wake Forest or something like that?)

I don't think it will move the needle substantially either way, but I'd exclude. It's not relevant and you want to keep it short and sweet. They're probably fielding hundreds random emails a week.

Thank you so much for your input. Do I email admissions or the financial aid office?

bciara96 wrote:

dabigchina wrote:

bciara96 wrote: Okay awesome! Nice and simple. Do you think it hurts me to include any of the three I mentioned? (Like should I not mention Wake Forest or something like that?)

I don't think it will move the needle substantially either way, but I'd exclude. It's not relevant and you want to keep it short and sweet. They're probably fielding hundreds random emails a week.

Thank you so much for your input. Do I email admissions or the financial aid office?

Send it to admissions and CC fin aid. Whoever needs to handle it will handle it.